Palmer Faces Ghana FA ExCo Suspension Over Bribery Comments

President of Tema Youth SC Wilfred Osei Kwaku Palmer is on the verge of facing suspension from the Executive Committee of the Ghana FA following bribery comments he made on Citi FM on their sports show - Sports Panaroma, according to reports in the local media.

Palmer, who is the Vice Chairman of the Black Stars management committee made a startling revelation when speaking on the show in October where he suggested that Ghana would have qualified for the Russia 2018 World Cup if money was made available to make unclassified and indemnity payments to referees.

“I was quite surprised that Ghanaians and the media sided with former Sports Minister Nii Lante Vanderpuye [about not budgeting for indemnities] when the government whitepaper on the Dzamefe Commission report clearly indicated that unclassified payments were legal in the concept of our budget," Citigmonline quoted Palmer.

“If we had spent around $300,000 dollars [on referees], and stood to benefit about $8 million [by appearing at the World Cup], I see nothing wrong with it."

The Ghana FA announced a couple of weeks ago that it would start investigations into comments they deemed disparaging to the integrity of the federation and its competitions including allegations of match-fixing and bribery of referees.

Following the announcement, the Ethics Committee of the Ghana FA hauled CEO of AshGold Kudjoe Fianoo to its meeting after he alleged that a gambler called him on phone to propose fixing a game.

Palmer faced the Ethics Committee of the FA On Tuesday where he was questioned on the remarks the Committee claimed have “dented the image of the FA”.

Palmer who defended his comment by claiming he rather shielded the FA in the face of brutal criticisms after the Black Stars failure to qualify for the World Cup.

The Ethics Committee of the federation are yet to make their ruling on the matter public but insiders say the Tema Youth President, who is tipped as a possible replacement for Kwesi Nyantakyi in 2019 as the Ghana FA President, could be suspended from the Executive Committee of the federation for an indefinite period.

Source: ghanasoccernet.com